A day after Montreal-area mayors came out swinging against Energy East and the Alberta government’s pipeline strategy came under fire, Premier Rachel Notley received some welcome support from Ontario’s premier.

In a joint news conference in Toronto on Friday, Kathleen Wynne praised Notley for the NDP government’s climate change plan and gave at least tentative backing to the $15.7-billion Energy East pipeline, which would move Alberta oilsands crude to the east coast for export.

The Liberal premier said Alberta’s efforts “makes the national conversation about climate targets and pipelines easier.”

“We appreciate that there is a need for a way to get Canadian oil, that is allowed under Alberta’s new emission cap, to overseas markets. And the people of Ontario care a great deal about the national economy and the potential jobs that this proposed pipeline project could create in our province and across the country,” said Wynne.

On Thursday, Montreal mayor Denis Coderre announced that municipalities in the city’s metropolitan area are opposed to Energy East, saying that there was limited economic benefit compared to major environmental risk from a pipeline spill.

The prompted a flurry of criticism from Alberta and western Canadian politicians aimed at Coderre, with the NDP government describing his attitude as “both ungenerous and short-sighted.”

But Notley also faced criticism, with Wildrose Leader Brian Jean saying Montreal’s rejection showed that the NDP plan to gain social licence for pipeline through tougher environmental policies had failed.

The NDP climate plan released last fall calls for the implementation of a broad-based carbon tax in 2017, an oilsands emissions cap, the accelerated phase-out of coal and a sharp reduction in methane emissions.

At the news conference, Notley repeated the criticism of Coderre as short-sighted and touted the pan-Canadian economic benefits of Energy East, which is being pushed forward by Calgary-based TransCanada Corp.

“This pipeline is part of building a strong Canada, it’s part of building a strong economy,” she said.

“And let me just say, a pipeline is the safest way, the most efficient way (to ship oil) … that is the safe solution.”

The proposed pipeline would take Alberta crude as far east as an Irving Oil refinery in Saint John, N.B., and would be capable of carrying up to 1.1 million barrels a day from the West to the East.

This pipeline is part of building a strong Canada, it’s part of building a strong economy

Wynne says that many of Ontario’s conditions for supporting the pipeline — including working with communities and aboriginal groups and making sure climate change is taken into account– are “starting to be addressed.”

She said that Alberta’s environmental plan, along with the Trudeau government’s pledge to strengthen the National Energy Board review process for pipelines, help projects gain credibility.

Coderre’s comments Thursday had prompted a harsh response from Jean, who repeatedly accused the mayor of hypocrisy for allowing raw sewage to be dumped in the St. Lawrence River last fall and for Quebec’s acceptance of equalization payments.

He also said the decision was based on politics, not science.

But Coderre fired back at Jean in an interview on Radio-Canada.

“You have to allow me a moment to laugh at a guy like Brian Jean, when he says he relies on science. These are probably the same people who think the Flintstones is a documentary,” he said.

Coderre, a former Liberal MP, was echoing a comment made by Liberal strategist Warren Kinsella in 2000 against then-Canadian Alliance leader Stockwell Day.